What do you think of a Carmaggeddon MMO?

Interesting · June 2009

Do you know Carmaggeddon? Or its not from your time and you didnt played it?

I found it yesterday (Carmaggeddon 2: Carpocalypse Now) on some old games website, managed to play it with some friends online, with joypad and teamspeak and we had a blast! The game is very old, graphics are outdated (file is just 56mb), but the gameplay, and entertainment was uber fun.

Then we started to discuss about how fun it would be if it was newer, bigger and better: remade as a MMORPG.

First thing that came to our minds was: "dude, it wouldnt be allowed"

So who wants to participate in this brainstorm masturbation of "how could/should a Carmaggeddon MMO be done?"

What kind of marketting campaign could be done?!

DasSpy · June 2009

They had a game like that called Auto Assault and it failed!!!

tarkin1980 · June 2009

If you liked Carmageddon 2 you should definitely get Carmageddon 1. It is approx. 4388761286438 times better. After all these years it's still up there on my top 5 list of the best multiplayer pc games of all time.

As for a Carmageddon MMO.. I have no idea how that would work, but the most important thing to me would be that the physics be completely wacky like in Carmageddon 1. That's what made the game so fun. The sequels tried to "fix" the physics, and sucked bad IMHO.

Somnulus · June 2009

As a multiplayer / massive multiplayer, sure; leave out the RPG part, there really isn't a place for it in Carmaggeddon, except perhaps in the form of forum / competitive drama between players.

I feel like that is probably the primary reason for the failure of AA; it would have probably been very successful as a multiplayer / massive multiplayer with zero RPG elements, particularly if they had focused entirely on the vehicle combat mechanics. They split their focus, and the vehicle combat just honestly wasn't very enjoyable. The game engine itself was rather glitchy for the relatively mediocre graphics in the game.

Carmaggeddon as a MMO sans RPG would probably be very successful with the proper focus on game mechanics and actual vehicle build and combat.

I would include:

A good combination of NFS and Gran Turismo mechanics
Robust vehicle visual customization
Combat augmentation earned by actually engaging in combat (duel / arena / long distance rallies with a purse for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place to purchase upgrades)
Player-customizable combat augmentations (combinations of weapon / defensive options that can be mixed and matched with bonus / detrimental effect balance)
Rankings and Statistics based on matches won, fastest lap / race times, most vehicles destroyed, least damage received while completing a race, most damage received while still completing a race, etc)
Semi-realistic damage models for vehicles
70% - 90% destructible environments
First / Third person views

My two cents for a starter list.

Interesting · June 2009

You could kill people in auto assault?

Run over them and hear squish noises and screams and splashes of blood and make credits out of it?

No.

*It was open ended

*There was car changes and upgrades

*Massive ammount of power ups and modifiers

Guys, you are forgetting the "run over inocents" element.

There was racing,

There was wrecking opponents car

but there was lots of inocents killing.

Auto Assault had guns, but it lacked the "run over inocents for rewards!"

drkl · June 2009

Well rather than a Carmageddon mmo a Interstate(86 76) would seem better. Comparing the two in Carmageddon you simply pick up power-ups that boost your cars ability, while in interstate you had some degree of customization on how the car was configured, but i still don't see how it could be a real MMO more like a multiplayer game with a lobby(similar to battle.net). But i do admit that i like the concept, you could have garages (player owned) to do car/weapon tunings, but there are also alot of things that might be hard to implement for instance if in a fantasy mmo you character dies he is then magically revived at a preset location but what happens if you car gets destroyed in a skirmish? Even if you try a sort of Eve online implementation where "you don't fly what you can't afford to lose" a game like this might hard to define(at least i don't see it working out).

Interesting · June 2009

I would design it without lobbys.

Everyone in the same vast open ended world, like the way GTA linked three cities and country side.

People would be able to design their own vehicles and what kind of vehicle parts it would be equippable.

LynxJSA · June 2009

Originally posted by Interesting

You could kill people in auto assault?
Run over them and hear squish noises and screams and splashes of blood and make credits out of it?
No.

*It was open ended
*There was car changes and upgrades
*Massive ammount of power ups and modifiers

Guys, you are forgetting the "run over inocents" element.
There was racing,
There was wrecking opponents car
but there was lots of inocents killing.

Auto Assault had guns, but it lacked the "run over inocents for rewards!"

What Auto Assault did you play? Killing people awarded XP, achievements, loot, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3izTZ5oAmM <-- You can see several pike footmen getting run over and shot at there.

Tecknic · June 2009

I have many fond memories of playing Carmaggedon II at the local youth center many years ago. It was a fun thing, but simply taking that and slapping the usual MMO trappings onto it isn't going to turn out well. Something drastic needs to be done to make an idea like this work.

First off, I would suggest a fairly unique car design system. It would allow players to change the shape of the car, the placement of the driver and the engine, the size of the wheels, and all sorts of other spiffy details. This sort of technology would be loosely based upon the technology used to make the creatures in Spore not fall over their own feet and burst into flames upon creation, and would thus allow a great deal of creative freedom. Once you have your unique car and a spiffy little avatar which can be launched out during particularly violent crashes, you are set loose in the world. Literally, you appear in the game world, and an ominous voice calls out "Welcome to the world! Go!"

Players would receive offers for missions of various sorts over a radio, with these missions ranging from completing feats of daring driving skill, to delivering items from one place to another, to destroying various objects. The player can simply refuse these missions or turn off their radio if they just want to roam around unbothered by that noise (the game would have some elements to encourage free-roaming too). Also, one other type of mission would tend to show up often, these being classic checkpoint races. However, the player, and the computer cars he is racing, would not get their own instance to race in. These races would happen in the very same game world where everything else is going on. This can lead to some griefing, of course, but that sort of behavior is half the fun.

Indeed, this would be a game that doesn't take itself too seriously. You drive, you crash, you run over pedestrians who explode fantastically upon your windscreen. The assorted voice actors would be hilariously campy and over the top, the settings would be large enough to allow the players to explore the strange, strange world, and the music, well, I'm thinking some kind of metal.

One last note. I'm not sure how Boss Battles would be done in a game like this, but it'll be completely worth it if you get to destroy a demonicly possessed skyscraper by ramming through it with your car.

Interesting · June 2009

Originally posted by Tecknic

I have many fond memories of playing Carmaggedon II at the local youth center many years ago. It was a fun thing, but simply taking that and slapping the usual MMO trappings onto it isn't going to turn out well. Something drastic needs to be done to make an idea like this work.
First off, I would suggest a fairly unique car design system. It would allow players to change the shape of the car, the placement of the driver and the engine, the size of the wheels, and all sorts of other spiffy details. This sort of technology would be loosely based upon the technology used to make the creatures in Spore not fall over their own feet and burst into flames upon creation, and would thus allow a great deal of creative freedom. Once you have your unique car and a spiffy little avatar which can be launched out during particularly violent crashes, you are set loose in the world. Literally, you appear in the game world, and an ominous voice calls out "Welcome to the world! Go!"
Players would receive offers for missions of various sorts over a radio, with these missions ranging from completing feats of daring driving skill, to delivering items from one place to another, to destroying various objects. The player can simply refuse these missions or turn off their radio if they just want to roam around unbothered by that noise (the game would have some elements to encourage free-roaming too). Also, one other type of mission would tend to show up often, these being classic checkpoint races. However, the player, and the computer cars he is racing, would not get their own instance to race in. These races would happen in the very same game world where everything else is going on. This can lead to some griefing, of course, but that sort of behavior is half the fun.
Indeed, this would be a game that doesn't take itself too seriously. You drive, you crash, you run over pedestrians who explode fantastically upon your windscreen. The assorted voice actors would be hilariously campy and over the top, the settings would be large enough to allow the players to explore the strange, strange world, and the music, well, I'm thinking some kind of metal.
One last note. I'm not sure how Boss Battles would be done in a game like this, but it'll be completely worth it if you get to destroy a demonicly possessed skyscraper by ramming through it with your car.

Very good ideas.

Hammertime1 · June 2009

Originally posted by DasSpy

They had a game like that called Auto Assault and it failed!!!

Sadly, that was my first thought. I really had high hopes for AA, it was a fresh setting for a MMO but it just couldn't overcome it's own problems.

Bummer.

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